Incumbent, 2 challengers seek OKCPS’s top school board seat

-- School performance a top concern among candidates in the board chair race

OKLAHOMA CITY — A three-way race for the top school board seat in Oklahoma City Public Schools features a longtime incumbent and two challengers intent on change.

Paula Lewis, 54, has spent almost nine years on the board, including eight years in its most influential position — board chair. In her bid to keep the seat for another four years, Lewis faces two opponents who both come from an education and business background, Niah Spriggs, 50, and Jan Barrick, 73.

All voters living in the Oklahoma City school district will be able to vote in the board chair primary election on Feb. 11. If no candidate earns more than 50% of the vote, the two with the highest vote totals would advance to an April 1 general election.

Two other board incumbents, Carole Thompson from District 1 and Vice Chairperson Lori Bowman from District 2, automatically were reelected to four-year terms after not drawing opponents.

Board of Education
Lori Bowman, Board District 2, Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education (B.DICKERSON/Okla City Free Press)

“I love the district. It has served my kids very well,” said Bowman, 49, who has a student in middle school and another in high school. “I think we are doing good things, and there’s so much more that we can do. I think we’re on a good path, and I want to help keep that positive momentum.”

Thompson, 67, did not return a request for comment.

OKCPS
Carole Thompson, District 1, Board of Education, Oklahoma City Public Schools (B.DICKERSON/Okla City Public Schools)

Three-way race for Chair

Lewis, the co-owner of Quest Pediatric Therapy, echoed Bowman’s sense of momentum as the board begins crafting a new five-year strategic plan focused on measuring student outcomes. District officials issued surveys and hosted listening sessions in recent months to gather input on which goals parents and community members most want the board to prioritize.

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Paula Lewis during a debate in her successful run for re-election on the OKCPS Board of Education in 2021. (B.DICKERSON/Okla City Free Press)

The objective, Lewis said, is to establish measurable goals and “spend 50% of our time talking about the outcomes of students instead of adult issues.” She said the board plans to begin outlining its strategic plan in January

“I absolutely love the work, and I love being a voice for kids and families that don’t have a voice,” Lewis said. “I also believe in the vision that we’re moving towards. I believe that the board is working really solid together and moving towards outcomes for kids.”

Her opponents said the school board hasn’t done enough to improve academic results.

Spriggs said the board has not sufficiently focused on strategies to improve academic metrics. After working in finance and business, Spriggs taught for five years in public schools in Oklahoma and Texas and now leads a homeschool co-op for elementary-age children in Oklahoma City.

OKCPS
Niah Spriggs said the school board in Oklahoma City Public Schools should be more focused on student performance. (Photo provided)

She said she wants to see at least 50% of students in the district score at a proficient level in reading and math. Last school year, 28% of students made a proficient or advanced score in reading, and 19% did so in math, according to state testing data.

However, Oklahoma recently lowered the bar for students to make a proficient score on annual state tests, which has inflated proficiency rates. The year before, Oklahoma City had only 12% of students meet the proficient benchmark in reading and 11% in math.

“I am going to be extremely focused on how do we move the kids from this point to that point, and we need real, actionable plans,” Spriggs said.

Barrick similarly criticized chronically low-performing schools in Oklahoma City, and she pledged to lead an ambitious turnaround.

She said she would ensure all schools are off of federally designated low-performance lists after a year in office. In three years, the district as a whole will meet the state average in academic achievement, she promised.

“It’s a big lift,” Barrick said. “And they say it can’t be done. Elect me as the school board chairman, and then tell me I can’t do it because I’ll make a liar out of you every time.”

Barrick said her history of improving struggling schools gives her the right credentials. However, a school board member’s role would be different from a hired consultant. School boards are, by design, not involved in day-to-day academic operations.

OKCPS
Jan Barrick promised an ambitious academic turnaround if elected as the school board chair in Oklahoma City Public Schools. (Photo provided)

The tutoring service Barrick founded while working as a special education teacher later grew into multiple locations and became a producer of curriculum and learning materials.

She also tutored teachers in effective instructional methods and worked to improve some of the lowest-scoring schools in the state, she said. The first school that hired her to do so was Roosevelt Middle School in the Oklahoma City district.

Barrick said she sold her company, Alpha Plus Educational Systems, last year and is now free to run for office. Joining the school board has been on her bucket list, she said.

Both Spriggs and Barrick said they would welcome more charter schools into Oklahoma City to give students more high-quality educational options. Lewis, too, has voted in favor of authorizing more charter schools, saying in the past that she’d “rather be a partner than an adversary.”

Her and other board members’ support for opening more charters put them at odds with district Superintendent Sean McDaniel, who later announced he would resign at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

Lewis had campaigned on delivering stability to the superintendent’s office. Before McDaniel became the district’s longest-tenured chief executive in three decades, the position had been a revolving door.

But, Lewis said McDaniel and the board had long prepared for the eventuality that he could leave, ensuring lower-ranking administrators held the proper certification for the top job. The board chose the district’s head of elementary schools, Jamie Polk, to succeed McDaniel as superintendent.

All three board chair candidates said they would work with Polk to achieve better outcomes for students.

Lewis said the board chose Polk not only for continuity but because of her track record of improving Oklahoma City’s lowest-performing schools.

“What we really did was we hired results,” Lewis said.


Republished in partnership with Oklahoma Voice under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Oklahoma Voice is a part of States Newsroom which is a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and Twitter.


Author Profile

Nuria Martinez-Keel covers education for Oklahoma Voice and can be found at @NuriaMKeel on X (Twitter). She worked in newspapers for six years, more than four of which she spent at The Oklahoman covering education and courts. Nuria is an Oklahoma State University graduate.